To pass or draw the tongue over the surface of; rub with the tongue.To take into the mouth by lapping with the tongue; lap.To strike repeatedly by way of punishment; flog; chastise with blows; beat.Hence To “beat” or overcome; gain a victory over; surpass; excel.In mech.: To catch and retain (fiber), as the rollers of drawing-frames in a damp atmosphere.To lap or scoop up; wipe off or transfer by intermittent contact, as in the device for lubrication called a licker.To take up gradually and feed (fiber) into a carding-machine: said of the action of the card called the licker-in.To prostrate one's self on the ground in token of utter submission; act abjectly and servilely.To gain the victory; be victorious: as, who licked?n. A rubbing or drawing of the tongue over something.n. A slight smear or coat, as of paint.n. A small quantity; as much as can be taken up by the tongue: as, a lick of sugar or of oatmeal.n. A place where salt is deposited at salt-springs, and where animals come, or might come, to lick it.n. A blow; a stroke; hence, a trial or essay.n. plural A beating.To tear along; ride at full gallop.n. An aberration of the appetite, with a morbid desire to eat foreign substances having no food value, which attacks nearly all the domestic animals. In the ox it is called pica, in the sheep wool-eating, etc.